Atletico's home kit is red and white vertical striped shirts, with blue shorts, accompanied by blue and red socks. This combination has been used since 1911. The current club kits are manufactured by Nike and the main sponsor is Azerbaijan.

During their history, the club has been known by a number of nicknames, including Los Colchoneros ("The Mattress Makers"), due to their first team stripes being the same colours as old-fashioned mattresses. During the 1970s, they became known as Los Indios, allegedly due to the club signing several South American players after the restrictions on signing foreign players were lifted. However, there are a number of alternative theories which claim they were named so because their stadium is "camped" on the river bank, or because Los Indios (The Indians) were the traditional enemy of Los Blancos (The Whites), which is the nickname of the club's city rivals, Real Madrid.[5]

Felipe VI, the current king of Spain, is the Honorary President of the Club since 2003.

Enrique Allende, first President of the club after establishment in 1903

The club was founded on 26 April 1903[7] as Athletic Club de Madrid by three Basque students living in Madrid. These founders saw the new club as a youth branch of their childhood team, Athletic Bilbao.[7] In 1904, they were joined by dissident members of Real Madrid.[8] They began playing in blue and white, similarly to Athletic Bilbao, but by 1911, Athletic were playing in their current colours of red and white stripes. Many believe the change was influenced because red and white striped tops were the cheapest stripes to make, because the same combination was used to make bed mattresses, and the unused cloth was easily converted into football shirts. This discovery of a cheaper option probably persuaded them to change and influenced the Madrid club being come to known as Los Colchoneros nickname. Another more plausible account of the reason to change colours is that both Athletic Bilbao and Athletic Madrid used to buy Blackburn Rovers blue and white kits in England.[9] Once in 1911, Juanito Elorduy, former player and member of the board of Athletic Madrid, went to England to buy kits for both teams. He did not find Blackburn Rovers kits and bought Southampton F.C. red and white ones instead. Athletic Madrid adopted the red and white shirt but opted to keep Blackburn Rovers' blue shorts, leading to them also being known as Los Rojiblancos.

Atletico's first ground, the Ronda de Vallecas, was situated in the eponymous working-class area on the south side of the city. In 1919, the Compañía Urbanizadora Metropolitana—the company that ran the underground communication system in Madrid—acquired some land, near the Ciudad Universitaria. And in 1921, Athletic Madrid became independent of parent-club Athletic Bilbao. As part of that project the company built a sports stadium, named Estadio Metropolitano de Madrid and Athletic had a new a 35,800 seat home.[10] The Metropolitano was used until 1966, when they moved to the new Estadio Vicente Calderón.[11] After the move, the Metropolitano was demolished and was replaced with university buildings and an office block belonging to the company ENUSA.

During the 1920s, Athletic won the Campeonato del Centro three times and they were Copa del Rey runners-up in 1921, ironically this final saw them face parent club Athletic Bilbao, and 1926. Based on this record, they were invited to join the Primera División of the inaugural La Liga in 1928. During their debut La Liga season, the club were managed by Fred Pentland, but after two seasons in the Primera División they were relegated to Segunda División. They briefly returned to La Liga in 1934. But were relegated again in 1936, after Josep Samitier took over in mid-season from Pentland. Fortunately for Los Colchoneros the Spanish Civil War gave the club a reprieve, because Real Oviedo was unable to play due to the destruction of their stadium during the bombings. Thus both La Liga and Athletic's relegation were postponed, the latter by winning a playoff against CA Osasuna, champion of the Segunda División tournament.

By 1939, when La Liga had resumed, Athletic had merged with Aviación Nacional of Zaragoza to become Athletic Aviación de Madrid. Aviación Nacional had been founded in 1939 by members of the Spanish Air Force. They had been promised a place in the Primera División for the 1939–40 season, only to be denied by the RFEF. As a compromise this club merged with Athletic, whose squad had lost eight players in the Spanish Civil War. The team were awarded a place in the 1939–40 La Liga campaign only as a replacement for Real Oviedo. With the legendary Ricardo Zamora as manager, the club subsequently won their first La Liga title that season and then retained the title in 1941. The most influential and charismatic player of these years was the captain Germán Gómez, who was signed from Racing de Santander in 1939. He played eight consecutive seasons for 'the rojiblancos', until the 1947–48 campaign. From his centre-midfield position he formed a legendary midfield alongside Machín and Ramón Gabilondo. In 1941, a decree issued by Franco[12] banned teams from using foreign names and the club became Atlético Aviacion de Madrid. In 1947, the club decided to drop the military association from its name and settled on its current name of Club Atlético de Madrid. The same year saw Atlético beat Real Madrid 5–0 at the Metropolitano; their biggest win over their cross-town rivals to date.[13]

Under Helenio Herrera and with the help of Larbi Benbarek, Atlético won La Liga again in 1950 and 1951. With the departure of Herrera in 1953, the club began to slip behind Real Madrid and FC Barcelona and for the remainder of the 1950s they were left to battle it out with Athletic Bilbao for the title of third team in Spain.

However during the 1960s and 1970s, Atlético Madrid seriously challenged Barcelona for the position of second team. The 1957–58 season saw Fernando Daucik take charge of Atlético and he led them to second place in La Liga. This resulted in Atlético qualifying for the 1958–59 season of the European Cup since the winners, Real Madrid, were the reigning European champions. Inspired by Brazilian centre-forward Vavá and Enrique Collar, Atlético reached the semi-finals after beating Drumcondra, CSKA Sofia and Schalke.[14] In the semi-finals, they met Real Madrid. Real won the first leg 2–1 at the Bernabéu while Atlético won 1–0 at the Metropolitano.[15] The tie went to a replay and Real won 2–1 in Zaragoza.[16]

Unfortunately for Atlético fans, their best years coincided with dominant Real Madrid teams. Between 1961 and 1980, Real Madrid dominated La Liga with the club winning the competition 14 times. During this era only Atlético offered Real any serious challenge, winning La Liga titles in 1966, 1970, 1973 and 1977. They were also runners-up in 1961, 1963 and 1965. The club had further success winning the Copa del Rey on three occasions in 1965, 1972 and 1976. In 1965, when they finished as La Liga runners-up to Real after an intense battle for the title, Atlético became the first team to beat Real at the Bernabéu in eight years.

Significant players from this era included the now veteran Adelardo and regular goalscorers Luis Aragonés, Javier Irureta and José Eulogio Gárate. The latter won the Pichichi three times in 1969, 1970 and 1971. In the 1970s Atlético also recruited several Argentine employees, signing Rubén Ayala, Panadero Díaz and Ramón "Cacho" Heredia as well as coach Juan Carlos Lorenzo. Lorenzo believed in discipline, caution and disrupting the opponents’ game. Although controversial, his methods proved successful and after winning La Liga in 1973, the club reached the 1974 European Cup Final.[21] On the way to the final Atlético knocked out Galatasaray, Dinamo Bucureşti, Red Star Belgrade and Celtic.[22] In the away leg of the semi-final against Celtic, Atlético had Ayala, Díaz, and substitute Quique all sent off during a hard fought encounter in what was reported as one of the worst cases of cynical fouling the tournament has seen. Because of this cynicism they managed a 0–0 draw, which was followed by a 2–0 victory in the return leg with goals from Gárate and Adelardo.[23] However the final at the Heysel Stadium was a loss for Atlético. Against a Bayern Munich team that included Franz Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier, Paul Breitner, Uli Hoeneß, and Gerd Müller, Atlético played above themselves. Despite missing Ayala, Díaz, and Quique through suspension, they went ahead in extra-time with only seven minutes left. Aragonés scored with a superb, curling free-kick that looked like the winner. However, in the last minute of the game Bayern defender Georg Schwarzenbeck equalized with a stunning 25 yarder that left the Atlético goalkeeper Miguel Reina motionless.[24] In a replay, back in the Heysel, two days later Bayern won convincingly 4–0, with two goals each from Hoeneß and Müller.[24]

Luis Aragonés, Atlético's top scorer of all time and four-time club manager

Shortly after the defeat in the European Cup, Atlético appointed their veteran player Luis Aragonés as coach. Aragonés subsequently served as coach on four separate occasions, from 1974 to 1980, from 1982 to 1987 once again 1991 till 1993 and finally from 2002 to 2003. His first success came quickly as Bayern Munich had refused to participate because of fixture congestion[25] in the Intercontinental Cup and as runners-up, Atlético were invited instead. Their opponents were Independiente[25] of Argentina and, after losing the away leg 1–0, they won the return leg 2–0 with goals from Javier Irureta and Rubén Ayala.[26] Aragonés subsequently led the club to further successes in the Copa del Rey in 1976 and La Liga in 1977.

During his second spell in charge, Aragonés led the club to a runners-up finish in La Liga and a winner's medal in the Copa del Rey, both in 1985. He received considerable help from Hugo Sánchez who scored 19 league goals and won the Pichichi. Sánchez also scored twice in the cup final as Atlético beat Athletic Bilbao 2–1. However Sánchez only remained at the club for one season before he move across the city to Real Madrid. Despite the loss of Sánchez, Aragonés went on to lead the club to success in the Supercopa de España in 1985 and then guided them to the European Cup Winners' Cup final in 1986. However Atlético lost their third successive European final, this time 3–0 to Dynamo Kyiv.[27][28]

Gil also closed down Atlético's youth academy in 1992,[31] a move that would prove significant due to 15-year-old academy member Raúl who as a result went across town to achieve worldwide fame at rivals Real Madrid.[32] The move came as part of the overall Gil-initiated business restructuring of the club; Atlético became a Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, recently introduced special type of legal status in the Spanish corporate law, allowing individuals to purchase and trade club shares.

The next season, 1996–97, saw the club take part in the Champions League for the first time. With expectations and ambitions raised, the most notable summer transfer singings were striker Juan Esnáider from Real Madrid and Radek Bejbl, who had played for the Czech Republic at Euro 1996. Playing on two fronts, Atlético fell out of the league title contention early while in the Champions League they were eliminated by AFC Ajax in extra-time in the quarter-finals. Before the 1997–98 season, the heavy spending continued with the signings of Christian Vieri and Juninho. All of the success, however, produced little change in the overall Gil strategy, and although Antić survived three consecutive seasons in charge, he was replaced during summer 1998 by Arrigo Sacchi, who himself only remained in the managerial hot seat for less than six months. Antić then returned briefly in early 1999 only to be replaced by Claudio Ranieri at the end of the season. The 1999–00 season proved disastrous for Atlético. In December 1999, Gil and his board got suspended pending investigation into the misuse of club funds and government-appointed administrator José Manuel Rubí began running Atlético's day-to-day operations. With the removal of club president Jesús Gil and his board, the club floundered and the players put in disastrous performances. Ranieri handed in his resignation with the club in 17th spot out of 20 and heading towards relegation. The return of Antić for the third coaching stint failed to prevent the inevitable. Despite reaching the Copa del Rey final, Atlético were relegated.[33]

Atlético spent two seasons in the Segunda División, narrowly missing out on promotion in 2001 before winning the Segunda División championship in 2002. It was again Luis Aragonés, in his fourth and last spell as manager of Atlético, who brought them back to the Primera División.[34] He also coached the team during the next season, and gave Fernando Torres his La Liga debut.[35]

In July 2007, the Atlético board reached an agreement with the City of Madrid to sell the land where their stadium is and move the club to the Olympic Stadium, owned by the city. The new stadium will be owned by the club in 2016. Madrid had applied to host the 2016 Olympic Games, losing out to Rio de Janeiro.[40]

The 2007–08 season proved to be the most successful season for the club in the past decade. The team reached the round of 32 in the UEFA Cup, where they were defeated by Bolton Wanderers. They also reached the quarter-final round of the Copa del Rey, where they were beaten by eventual champions Valencia CF. More significantly, the team finished the La Liga season in fourth place, qualifying for the Champions League for the first time since the 1996–97 season.[41]

Diego Forlán scored 32 La Liga goals for Atlético in 2008–09, making him the top scorer in Spain and Europe

On 3 February 2009, Javier Aguirre was dismissed from his post as manager after a terrible start to 2009, going without a win in six games. He later claimed this was simply not the case, and that he had been released by mutual termination rather than sacked.[42] There was a public outrage after his dismissal, many believing he was not the cause of Atlético's problems, specifically player Diego Forlán. He backed his former manager and said that, "Dismissing Javier was the easy way out, but he was not the cause of our problems. The players are to blame because we have not been playing well and we have been committing a lot of errors." This led to the appointment of Abel Resino as Atlético's new manager.[43]

Atlético's success continued in the latter half of the season when they placed 4th once again in the league table, securing a position in the playoff round of the UEFA Champions League. Striker Diego Forlán was crowned with the Pichichi Trophy and also won the European Golden Shoe, for scoring 32 goals for Atlético that season.[44] Atlético saw this domestic success as an opportunity to reinforce their squad for the upcoming Champions League season. They departed company with veteran goalkeeper Leo Franco and brought in David de Gea from the youth ranks and signed promising youngster Sergio Asenjo, from Real Valladolid. Atlético also purchased Real Betis defender and Spanish international Juanito on a free transfer. Despite pressure from big clubs to purchase their star players of Agüero and Forlán, Atlético remained committed to keeping their strong attacking base in the hopes for a successful new season.

The 2009–10 Atlético season, however, began poorly with many defeats and goals conceded. On 21 October, Atletico were hammered 4–0 by English club Chelsea in the Champions League group stage.[45] This defeat led to Atletico's management announcement that manager Abel Resino had to leave.[46] After failing to sign Danish former footballer Michael Laudrup, Atlético Madrid made it official that the new manager for the rest of the season was Quique Flores.[47][48]

With the arrival of Quique Flores as coach in October 2009, Atlético saw a huge change of fortunes. Though they continued to lag somewhat in La Liga during the 2009–10 season, finishing in the ninth position, they managed to get third place in the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League group stage, and subsequently entered the season's Europa League in the round of 32 and won the Europa League, beating English teams Liverpool in the semi-finals and eventually Fulham[49] in the final held in the HSH Nordbank Arena in Hamburg on 12 May 2010.[50][51]Diego Forlán scored twice, the second being an extra-time winner in the 116th minute, as Atlético Madrid won 2–1.[52]

Atlético had a comparatively disappointing 2010–11 season, finishing only seventh in the League and being eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey and the Group Stage of the Europa League. This ultimately led to the departure of manager Quique Flores before the conclusion of the season, who was replaced with ex-Sevilla manager Gregorio Manzano, and who secured the final Europa League place for Atlético. Manzano himself was replaced with Diego Simeone in December 2011 after a poor run of form in La Liga.

As the undefeated winners of their Champions League group containing FC Zenit, FC Porto and Austria Wien, and later defeating AC Milan, FC Barcelona and Chelsea in the knock-out rounds, Atlético played their first Champions League final since 1974, in Lisbon's Estádio da Luz against city rivals Real Madrid.[58][59] Atlético took a first-half lead through Diego Godín and survived Real's pressure until the third minute of injury time, when Sergio Ramos scored an equaliser from a corner. The match went into extra time and ended in a 4–1 loss. However, Atlético did have the consolation of winning La Liga for the first time since 1996, with Godín's headed equaliser against Barcelona on the last day of the season, a week before the Champions League final.[60]

Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid are clubs with contrasting identities and very different fates. While Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu Stadium proudly rises on Paseo de la Castellana in the wealthyChamartín neighbourhood of northern Madrid, Atlético's less glamorous Vicente Calderón Stadium stands way down south, in the working class barrio of Arganzuela. Historically, Real Madrid have long been seen as the establishment club. On the other side, the Rojiblancos were always characterized by a sentimiento de rebeldía, a sense of rebellion, although during the early Francisco Franco years, it was Atlético that was the preferred team of the regime, albeit forcibly.[citation needed] They were associated with the military airforce (renamed Atlético Aviación), until the regime's preferences moved towards Real Madrid in the 1950s.

Certainly, the dictatorial state sought to make political capital out of Real Madrid's European Cup trophies at a time when Spain was internationally isolated; "Real Madrid are the best embassy we ever had", said one minister.[citation needed] Such perceptions have had an important impact on the city's footballing identities, tapping into the collective consciousness. In this vein, Atlético fans were probably the originators, and are the most frequent singers, of the song, sung to the tune of the Real Madrid anthem, "Hala Madrid, hala Madrid, el equipo del gobierno, la vergüenza del país", "Go Madrid, go Madrid, the government's team, the country's shame."

Atlético Madrid had recently struggled with big issues in the derby, carrying a fourteen-year winless streak into the 2012–13 season. However, the tide turned on 17 May 2013 when Atletico Madrid beat their city rivals 2–1 in Estadio Santiago Bernabeu to take home the Copa del Rey trophy, and continued on 29 September 2013 when they won a 1–0 victory, again in Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. Now they are on a six games unbeaten streak to Real Madrid.

The club plan to move in 2016 to the renovated Estadio La Peineta, (Spanish)[70] which will be expanded from a 20,000 seat capacity to 73,000 after it was used for Madrid's failed bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. The Vicente Calderón will be demolished, and replaced by a waterfront park at the banks of the Manzanares River in Madrid.[71] The club's training ground is the Ciudad Deportiva de Majadahonda, 20 km west of Madrid. The facility maintains grass and artificial patches as well as a gym. Both the senior and youth squads train here.[72]

Atlético began playing in blue and white, similar to Athletic Bilbao, but soon changed to their traditional red and white stripes by 1911. Many believe the change was influenced because red and white striped tops were the cheapest stripes to make, because the same combination was used to make bed mattresses, and the unused cloth was easily converted into football shirts. The kit has been made by Nike for the past nine years, as the company wants to provide competition against Real Madrid, who have a deal with Adidas. The current shirt sponsor is Azerbaijan, while the AXN cable channel, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, has a minor sponsorship on the back of the shorts and Kyocera has a sponsor's logo on the back of the shirt, Finnish gambling monopoly PAF has a sponsorship on the clubs shorts. The shirt sponsorship by Azerbaijan has been condemned by Reporters Without Borders, who satirized it in a campaign visual in which the shirt's vertical stripes become prison bars with the logo "Azerbaijan, Land of Repression".[73] Atlético Madrid admits its sponsorship deal with Azerbaijan has a political dimension, saying the intention is to "promote the image of Azerbaijan"[74] In August 2014 the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights wrote to Atlético, calling on it to end the sponsorship by and promotion of Azerbaijan because of Azerbaijan's human rights record, calling it "one of the most repressive countries in the world".[75]

Previously, the club was sponsored by Columbia Pictures, who would change the shirt sponsor's logo, and occasionally the shirt itself, as they did with the away shirt when Spider-Man 2 was in cinemas.[76] Because shirts would have to be introduced and removed from shops at a very fast pace to keep up with film releases, Nike decided to not include a sponsor's logo on replica shirts made from 2002 to 2005.

Official logo of 2015 European Games at first time used on the kits of Atlético Madrid on the game against Getafe in November 2013[77]

Adelardo holds the club's official appearance record, wearing the Atlético shirt in 551 matches from 1959 to 1976. Luis Aragonés, club legend as both player and coach, holds the record for most goals scored with 173, while Adrián Escudero has the record for most goals in La Liga with 150. Raúl García is the club's current record appearance holder, with 182. Radamel Falcao is the club's most expensive signing at €40 million, and at €60 million also its biggest sale.